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Just some of my own notes, thoughts and ramblings related to hunting up my long-dead relatives. ~ DHP ~ Online Realities ~ Researching Genealogy is not a new activity, but doing it online is. Remember these Facts: ~ No single database is ever complete. Ever. Look around. Use several online sources to access multiple databases that are most likely to contain some of your people. ~ There are often free options that are a little harder to find than the ones you must pay for. Generous persons aren't nearly as shrewd at 'web presence' as people trying to make money. Yes, the real data may be public information and you have a right to access it, however, they can charge you for convenience. Depends on whether you want to spend money as well as time. ~ Results from searches backed by sellers are intentionally vague. They are more interested in getting you to buy their product than in helping you find your ancestors. "We found 140,538 John K Smiths in OUR files! Sign up NOW and find what you're looking for!" Yes, well, duh. A plain old web search would turn up that many John Smiths as well, but not very many of them will be an ahnentafel for your John K Smith. The same may be true of a site that gives you unbelievable results for an 'Unbelievable Price!." Caveat Emptor. ~ Very few people really interested in serious Genealogy research are also computer nuts, so far. This method of information access is new-New-NEW and maybe improved, but it will be a long time before everything 'out there' is available 'on here'. ~ Repeating, because this cannot be stressed enough: This early in the technology, success is very dependent on who has bothered to post the data they have and where they stashed it. Yes, you have information at your fingertips. No, it is not the whole story, at least not yet, maybe never. ~ What is being offered on a Genealogy website is often purposely misleading. Getting you to just stop in can mean income to some websites, from advertisers. They may offer information, but most of them mean that they have a search that can lead you to an index that can give you the exact location of a roll of microfilm.... but they have none of this data available. Be keenly aware that 'index' does not equal 'records' and that there are many free places to see an index, if you look. Of course, the money sites will offer to sell you the records on a CD even though they likely got them from a free or cheaper source. Some are brazen enough to offer only the indexes for sale. Again, they can charge for convenience. Your choice, but before I'd pay $19.95 for a possible Census record, I'd exhaust all other possibilities, including a paper trail to the NARA. ~ On Speeling ~ Um... I meant, spelling. Spelling has got to be one of the most perturbing elements of genealogical research. Notes from your own family bible tell you that your grandmother's name was Loretta. Clerks, court recorders, census takers, bereaved relatives, neighbors, cousins, people trying to read handwritten census records, cemetery transcribers, related family tree makers... all may have a different idea of how Loretta's name should be spelled. Most of this information has heretofore been originated by word of mouth so the recorder spells from their own rules. Oh and did they forget to tell you that her name was really Mary Loretta, but they never called her that? You may end up with one record for a Mary L and another for Lowreta. Just be aware of these possibilities. ~ On Surnames ~ Yes, surnames. When you're in the frenzy of a search, remember these things... Firstly, a death certificate will be filed under the person's name AT death. Sounds simple, but you spend most of your time learning to look for Aunt Mabel under her maiden name, which you never heard of before two weeks ago, until you forget that when you need to look up her death certificate, it will be under Uncle Marvin's last name, or her 4th husband's name, or the last name she regularly used immediately before her death. Secondly, most names have changed through history. Wagner may have been Waggoner once, so don't overlook this potential. ~ Genealogy is like... Searching for a Needle in a Haystack ~ I know you have heard this said a million times. I am sure you've experienced it, if you have researched ANYone. Here's a trick though. If at all possible, it helps to control the size of the haystack by picking the right needle to search for. If you start out trying to find Mary Smith, the haystack is likely to topple over on you. However, if you have a Quincy Maximillian Schmockulmaker, well then the haystack may be only a handful of straw. Of course, sometimes there is no haystack for a particular needle. Move on. You may have to leave a needle undiscovered and come back later or you may never find it at all, but you are likely missing out on other more successful searches by frustrating yourself too long on this one. ~ Genealogy is like... Scientific Research ~ There's a postulate in modern science called Occam's Razor: "Entia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessititem." - William of Occam - 1349. This translates to "If two explanations equally explain the facts, the one with the fewer postulates shall be chosen." It's basically the K.I.S.S. method - Keep It Simple, Stupid. It is so tempting to make leaps of faith and hope that the person I found is really the person I need to fill a gap in my family tree. However, none of it really counts without proof. The further you have to stretch to 'prove' your theory, the more likely you are to botch the experiment. Nothing is wrong with chasing a theory now and then but remember two things. One, you are not seeing all the facts, just the data that is available at the moment. Two, if you start trying to force your family tree into a theory, you need to scrap it. Go back to the basis of your experiment. Return to the facts, the people and info you can prove, and try again. Also, during the main part of an investigation, I catch myself recording all sorts of extraneous people and data because I am not yet sure if they connect and I fear I may never find them again. Just remember that if your lab table is too cluttered, you may loose track of your original experiment. Keep it focused. Keep it neat. Keep it simple. ... on the other hand... ~ Genealogy is like... a Crossword Puzzle ~ Sometimes, don't you have to cheat a little in order to finish the Sunday Crossword? I mean, you eventually work it out, mostly. Yet, sometimes don't you take a guess at a word that doesn't quite fit the clue then use it to help work the real answers in around it? Usually, the real word will make itself known, even beneath all the scribbles. On occasion, this may work with ancestry too, but flag that unconfirmed person so you know where you left him. You don't really want to build a good treehouse out on a weak limb. ~ Genealogy is like... the Rumor Game ~ Ever play that game? Someone starts a rumor with one person and asks them to pass it on to the next and so on, until everyone in the room has heard it. For the game, it's usually very funny to hear what the original rumor was and what the last person heard. "Jim took a bath with a yellow ducky." can end up as "Lucky thing that John ducked or he'd have been splashed with yellow paint." You can see how just a wee change in the telling, by each person, can get from one to the other, can't you? Now, imagine a rumor that started in the 1700's. It has been retold by countless thousands for the last 300 years. Only bits of this ever expanding tale have been recorded here and there, as the tale was carried verbally or through previous records that weren't always cared for very well. Sean Jacob O'Gurlahey may look like your 5th cousin 4 times removed, but he may in fact be the Loch Ness monster. This is something you'd want to know for sure. Verify the rumors with records. ~ On Tracing the Paths ~ Genealogical Research may be an endless search for impossible-to-read documents with incomplete and contradictory information, but... One's ancestry is much more than dates and names. There are countless hearts and souls here. I found myself grieving for families who suffered heavy tragedy, even though they have all been gone for 150 years or more. I also found myself joyful at realizing how many did not die in the wars or by epidemic or by the struggle to make a life in a strange new place. I've read slave interviews, although I know of no direct connections with my family besides the war itself. How horrible it was for humans to be treated no better than a man's cattle, yet it was the way of things and the owners were not all demons; they were doing as was customary. How heartening it was to read the simple but profound words of ex-slaves, "I remember the day they told us we were free." What bravery it took to embark across the ocean and come to what was literally a foreign place. How quickly we have grown from a rebellious group of pilgrims and pioneers, to a whole country of strength in the world and diversity within our shores. I cannot know all the hardships and victories of my forefathers' and foremothers' lives, but I have been touched by what I am learning of them... and I continue to trace their paths. ~ DHP |